1 comments about Live & Work in Portugal (Live & Work - Vacation Work Publications).

1. I have bought a number of books on living in Portugal etc and this is one of my favourites. Why? Because it has helped me. The best chapters are the advice on residence and entry resolutions, the setting up home in Portugal, employment and starting a business. In all these chapters I have found a lot of useful information some of which I have already used with good success. A good book I am happy to recommed.

No comments about A Journey from London to Genoa Through England, Portugal, Spain and France. TWO VOLUMES in ONE.

No comments about Fodor's Spain 2009 (Fodor's Gold Guides).

No comments about Travellers In Spain.

1 comments about Moon Metro Barcelona.

1. I thought the metro guide was really easy to use- I love the fact that all the city maps are right there, easy to unfold. I hate carrying around a separate map or getting confused when a street name doesn't appear on a regular (tiny) guidebook map. I also liked the writing style- I even read about places I didn't plan to go because it was so entertaining!

5 comments about Rick Steves' Spain 2005.

1. Rick's book was extremely helpful. We have always bought the Eyewitness travel books in the past. This trip to Spain we had Lonely Planet Spain, Eyewitness Spain and of course Rick Steves's Spain 2005. We "lived by" what Rick said every time. We compared all three books each night as we planned the next day's adventures. Each book had conflicting information. Rick turned out to be the correct one EVERY time. His book was the smallest,lightest and easiest to read of the three. We felt like we were on a tour with Rick. We'd get to place and say, "Okay, what did Rick say about this..." As I read, I felt like I was watching one of his travel shows. We had a great time with Rick!!! Next country I visit, I will only buy one of Rick Steves' books.



2. Rick Steves' guides are always by far the best out there. We had been poring over our on the plane and were so excited based on everything we were reading. We ended up forgetting it on the plane and had to buy another guide. We got a lonely Planet guide which was so useless in comparison. The only reason we even saw and enjoyed what we did was based on what we had remembered from the Rick Steves' book.
   
   I first found Rick Steves' Paris which made my trip Paris the best of my lifetime. I would never go anywhere in Europe without one of his books now.
   
   They are so clever. They show you how to really enjoy the city giving you interesting little bits of info everywhere you go. The walking tours are excellent. I think one of the best features is the Museum tours. By the time your walk out, having followed his guides, you feel like you saw the most important pieces. Not only that, you really feel like you've had an art history lesson, with the added benefit of looking at the ACTUAL paintings/sculptures/etc. I highly recommend this and his other guide books to anyone who is looking for a trip where you leave feeling like you made the absolute most of your time.



3. I'm an experienced world traveler and have used a number of different guidebook series, including Lonely Planet, Let's Go, Moon, and now Rick Steves'. I've found in the end that no guidebook is perfect, although some are stronger than others. Rick Steves' is excellent on its walk-throughs of tourist sites and neighborhoods. It can really help you get an in-depth understanding of these places. However, for practical info it is very weak (transportation connections and schedules especially), as well as "before you go" type advice. The hand-drawn maps also tend to cover pretty small areas and will not suffice if you go out to really explore a city. Listings of budget lodgings are also extremely sparse. However, many budget hostels and the like can now be found and booked through various internet sites, so I think guidebook listings of these are becoming less necessary. These same internet sites often carry reviews of the hostels that are very up-to-date, which puts the guidebooks at a disadvantage since they can only be published periodically. That being said, I think Rick Steves' caters to travelers who will be traveling comfortably, staying in more upscale accommodations where many things can be "arranged" or information can be obtained for guests by the staff. It lacks much of the useful, practical information found in guidebooks like the Moon series or Lonely Planet that is especially helpful to independent, budget travelers. As budget travelers, we did a lot of calling to bus companies and the like to find out schedules, etc. And the public phones in Spain are ridiculously expensive! In the end, I found that the annoying lack of practical info and good maps gave me an overall negative experience with this guidebook. However, practical info tends to change quickly, so whatever guidebook you get, make sure it's as recently published as possible!



4. Rick Steves' books, as his shows, are great resources to consider when traveling abroad. This guide was no exception.



5. I spent three months in the summer of 2005 working in Madrid, and as a longtime fan of Rick Steves' travel show "Europe Through the Back Door" on PBS, I bought his Spain 2005 guidebook to accompany me on my weekend trips in and around Madrid, as well as on long-distance treks to Santiago de Compostela and Barcelona.
   
   The book focuses on destinations such as Madrid, Barcelona, Santiago, Sevilla, Cordoba, Granada and the Costa del Sur, offering a range of dining and lodging options to suit all tastes and budgets. Rick includes walking tours, hand-drawn maps to locate dining and hotel listings, and a liberal dose of humour and Spanish culture.
   
   Nearly all of my reservations on trips were from Rick's recommendations: in Santiago, I stayed at the Hotel Virxe da Cerca ("a wonderful splurge") and enjoyed a coffee on the terrace of the Hotel Costa Vella, Rick's favourite hotel in Santiago. In Toledo, I tried two different hotels that Rick recommends: the budget-priced, centrally located Hotel Santa Isabel (45 Euros/night for a double) and the plush, tranquil Hostal del Cardenal, a former cardinal's palace built into the ancient city wall.
   
   The only hotel recommendation that I found a little off was the Petit Palace Las Torres in Salamanca. Rick's prices are drastically off for 2005 - although he lists a single room as 67 Euros, the summer rate was 100. Rick also lists that rooms with a view cost the same as interior rooms; again, this is no longer true. A room facing the Plaza Mayor runs about 20-30 Euros more a night. However, the Las Torres is in an unbeatable location, and despite the huge crowds and summer festival in full swing on the Plaza Mayor, there was virtually no outside noise. Also, the free Internet came in handy.
   
   Rick focuses on museums, with handy descriptions and walkthroughs that are lifesavers for non-Spanish speakers, since nearly all museums have little or no English posted, or limited information in general. His orientation and transportation information is hugely helpful, down to listing metro stops, where to catch buses/trains to specific destinations, and how to go on foot from bus/train stations to downtown areas, saving in costly taxi fares.
   
   Also, his listings of vegetarian restaurants were a lifesaver: as a vegan in Spain, vegetarian options are few and far between, and Rick made it easy to navigate. I especially enjoyed trying the numerous local pastries and delicacies in each town, such as the ponche segoviano (marzipan cake) in Segovia at the Lima y Menta and the pumpkin-filled toledano marzipan cookies at Santo Tome in Toledo. I wanted to try the crema catalan at the Granja Viader in Barcelona, but even though I arrived before close (as posted by Rick), the shop had already closed.
   
   As expected, many of the museum entrance costs have gone up since the book's publication, usually by no more than .50 - 2.00 Euros. Also, Rick's listed hours for restaurants and museums are not always current; it's best to call using the included telephone numbers to confirm. Rick's handy guide on reserving hotels, a tapas primer, and included glossary, along with a brief Spanish history, make this an invaluable guide for those who want to experience Spain to the fullest. Rick steers you away from American-style hotels and restaurants and tourist traps so that you can "live like a local," and it's far more authentic (and fun). For those interested in visiting Gibraltar and Morocco, Rick includes a short, basic guide to Tangier and an extended tour of Morocco. Well worth the cost, although at this date (August 2005), you'd be better off waiting for the Rick Steves' Spain 2006, due out this fall.

No comments about St. Maarten, Saba and St. Eustatius: With 32 Pages of Color Photographs (DLB46274XIII).

No comments about Costa Del Sol & Blanca.

No comments about Andalucia Popoutmap: Costa del Sol, Malaga, Marbella, Granada, Cadiz, Cordoba, Las Alpujarras (International Maps).

No comments about Malaspina and Galiano: Spanish Voyages to the Northwest Coast, 1791 and 1792.